Ethical Concerns of Classical Breeding and
             " You can stop the splitting of an atom; you can stop visiting the moon; you can stop using aerosols; you may even decide not to kill an entire population by the use of a few bombs, but you cannot recall a new form of life." - Erwin Chargoff
             Imagine a world free of disease, where everyone is healthy and the average life span is 100+ years. To most people that would be a dream come true. According to Biotech companies that are doing research in the field of Genetic engineering that is what GE will make of the future. Hard to believe that that could ever happen. Well it is a possibility ,but a very unlikely one to say the least.
             Erwin Chargoff is considered by some to be the father of modern Microbiology. He also said this about GE, "An irreversible attack on the biosphere is something so unheard-of, so unthinkable to previous generations, that I could only wish that mine had not been guilty of it." He said this in reference to the huge price tag that this kind of engineering carries with it. The companies who are for Genetic engineering, in their defense, say that it is only an extension of Classical or Selective Breeding. This practice has gone on for years with a very high success rate and very few failures.
             Classical Breeding is a type of primitive GE that involves two subjects of the same species, a very similar species or even a VERY similar genera in a cross breed. This cross breeding is an attempt to try and get certain characteristics carried on from one generation to the next. It has a fairly high success rate but it is not at all guaranteed to work. Most people know about selective breeding in dogs, horses, and in some plants. But it has a much greater range that includes most type of animals and plants. It has had some major failures though. Some examples of these failures are Killer Bees that were an attempt to create bees that would produce more hone...